The Handmaid's Tale By Margaret Atwood

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In Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, the dystopian theme of freedom and confinement is evident throughout. In the novel, it is clear that Handmaids are one of the groups of people with the least amount of freedom. They must always follow the rules or else they will persecuted. The little bit of freedom which is left, is usually sent with other Handmaids. It is explained that all Handmaids are denied freedom as they may cause a threat against the government: “Now we walk along the same street, in red pairs, and no man shouts obscenities at us, speaks to us, touches us. No one whistles. There is more than one kind of freedom...freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don't…show more content…
Margaret Atwood describes the global relationship between pollution and its causes towards infertility. It also touches on the connections to society through the act of discarding unsuitable children. There is a parallel between the discarding of Unbabies in The Handmaid’s Tale, and the female discarding of children occurring in certain parts of India and China. In India, for example, there is a strong preference for male children over female children. Many families will discard their female baby in hopes of conceiving a baby boy the next time. “In most parts of the country, a woman is still considered a burdensome appendage. She is an economic drain. She must be exploited or dispensed with as a non-person.” (Reid 1) A baby girl is seen as a burden and economic waste to a family, and many young female infants are left on the streets, or if they are lucky, they are left at shelter homes. In The Handmaid’s Tale, the handmaids were faced with a similar procedure, “We didn’t know exactly what would happen to the babies that … were declared Unbabies. But we knew they were put somewhere, quickly, away” (Atwood 113). If the baby they conceived is affected physically/mentally by the toxins and pollution, they are sent away. They don’t explain where the children go, but it is safe to say they are not being taken care…show more content…
One of the more disturbing images in The Handmaid’s Tale is the wall of dead bodies that Offred and Offglen pass on their way to the market. This wall is representative of the public executions, which are used also in many past and present societies around the world. The public executions of witchcraft in Salem in 1692, were performed under the same biases as were the people in The Handmaid’s Tale. People were publicly executed based on individuals who were a threat to possibly disrupt the flow of the political system. For example, in the Crucible, Tituba was persecuted by Abigail and was used as a scapegoat as she was the minority and had less power. In The Handmaid’s Tale, Handmaids are often used as scapegoats as they have the least amount of power in society (example: if the Commander is sterile and the Handmaid doesn’t become pregnant, it’s her fault). Public executions work to eliminate outsiders, and to assert authority. They use the essence of fear by showing them what could happen to them if they begin to deviate from society’s standards, “They have committed atrocities and must be made into examples, for the rest. Though this is hardly needed” (Atwood 33). By using fear, they are able to promote order in the
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